Independence, MO — The Kansas City Mavericks dropped Game One of the Mountain Division Semifinals on Friday night, falling 4-2 to the Tulsa Oilers at Cable Dahmer Arena after surrendering four third-period goals.
The Mavericks controlled much of the opening 40 minutes, breaking through early in the second period. Nate Knoepkeopened the scoring with a slap shot at 1:16, finishing off a clean setup from Cade Borchardt and Casey Carreau.
Less than four minutes later, Kansas City extended the lead. Damien Giroux redirected a bouncing puck at 5:08, with Landon McCallum and Knoepke assisting on the play. The Mavericks carried a 2-0 lead into the third period.
Tulsa, however, flipped the momentum just 15 seconds into the final frame. Drew Elliott scored to make it 2-1, and the Oilers kept pushing. Goals from Reid Petryk and Alec Butcher in a 31-second span midway through the period gave Tulsa a sudden 3-2 advantage. Elliott added an empty-net goal at 19:44 to close it out.
Despite outshooting Tulsa 30-27, the Mavericks couldn’t generate a response in the third. Kansas City went 0-for-3 on the power play and 2-for-3 on the penalty kill. Jack LaFontaine made 23 saves in net for Kansas City.
Game Two of the best-of-seven series is set for Saturday night at 6:05 p.m. at Cable Dahmer Arena as the Mavericks aim to even the series before it shifts to Tulsa.
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